'Who Says a Squirrel Can't Act Like a Mongoose?'

Who Says a Squirrel Can't Act Like a Mongoose?

By Jamin Greensbury at 08/14/07 13:05

If a gopher snake ever tries to attack you, your best defense is none other than a California ground squirrel. Why you ask? Because when a squirrel discovers one of the snakes, it will start frantically waving its tail. Now how would that bother a snake? Well, since the snakes sense infrared radiation from heat, the waving of the tail intimidates the snake. This causes the snake to get on the defensive and make it retreat.

Now how does all this heat get in the tail? Scientists believe that the squirrel somehow shifts more blood into the tail as it starts waving it. Not that much else is known about how the squirrel does that. But this isn't a reflex of the squirrel's either. They only seem to do it around gopher snakes. Scientists found this out when examining the squirrels through an infrared camera.

So take your pet squirrel out on walks more often. I bet you'll feel so much safer with your squirrel acting like a mongoose.

We humans used to be able to wave our tails to ward off enemies with the infrared radiation. Since we lost our tails to evolution, we're just left with scaring the bad things in life away with a little flatulence.

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